Tesla settled Monday with the family of a software engineer who was killed in a 2018 northern California car crash while depending on the vehicle’s “semi-autonomous” driving software.
The suit had been scheduled to go to court Tuesday. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. Tesla, which filed to keep financial details private, said it settled the matter to put an end to “years” of litigation.
Walter Huang’s family accused Tesla, owned by Elon Musk, of misleading customers with regards to their cars’ self-driving car technology. Huang is believed to have been playing a video game when his Model X slammed into a barrier on a Mountain View, Calif., freeway at more than 70 mph after he dropped his son off at preschool.
The 38-year-old victim was on his way to work at Apple. He was married with two young children.
Tesla and Musk, one of the world’s richest men, are accused of using the term “Autopilot” to describe software that still requires humans to participate in the driving process to some degree.
The company successfully defended itself in a similar 2019 lawsuit in southern California.
Tesla shareholders got good news Monday when stocks closed up by 5% after Musk said the company’s “robotaxi” vehicle will launch in August. Those vehicles reportedly run without a steering wheel or floor pedals, according to Yahoo! Finance.
With News Wire Services
